Man charged with fourth violent crime since February

HILLSDALE — An Osseo man was arrested Tuesday for the fifth time and charged with his fourth violent crime since February.

Philip Duane Voelzke, 35, was arrested on July 23 and charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of driving with license suspended/revoked/denied and one count of malicious destruction of property. That arrest came on the same day he pleaded guilty to a driving with a license suspended charge in Hillsdale County District Court.

Volezke appeared in court at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to the driving charge as part of a plea bargain. Two other counts, one count of reckless driving and one count of failure to stop at the scene of a personal injury accident, were dropped as part of the plea bargain.

That same day Voelzke was arrested and charged with the aggravated assault as a result of an incident on July 13 wherein he allegedly punched a man and caused him injury. Voelzke is also accused of tearing up the lawn of the house where the man was with his vehicle. A no-contact order was issued between the Voelzke and the man.

Voelzke pleaded not guilty to the most recent assault charge and a jury trial has been scheduled for Sept. 13 at 8:30 a.m. The most recent arrest marks the fourth time since February that Voelzke has been arrested for either assault or domestic violence.

It was also not the first time Voelzke assaulted someone at the residence. In April, a woman living at the residence secured a personal protection order against Voelzke and he was ordered to stay away from her and the home. Voelzke was arrested on March 31 for domestic violence, but it is not clear if the PPO was related to that arrest.

A week after the PPO was issued, Volezke allegedly broke into the home and assaulted the woman who had the PPO against him and her daughter, who was seven months pregnant at the time. The woman's 6-year-old grandson called police that night and Voelzke was arrested and charged with one count of first degree home invasion, two counts of domestic violence and a violation of conditional bond release.The woman provided testimony during a pre-trial examination in Hillsdale County District Court and said if not for another man who stopped Voelzke during the assault, she thinks she and her daughter would not be alive.

Following the pre-trial examination in April, Judge Donald Sanderson bound the case over to Hillsdale County Circuit Court and a jury trial concerning those charges is scheduled for Aug. 20 at 8:30 a.m.

Voelzke previously spent six years in prison after he pleaded to charges of operating/maintaning a laboratory and possession of methamphetamine. He was sentenced in June of 2005 and was released in June 2011. Five months after his release, Voelzke was arrested and charged with delivery/manufacturing a controlled substance (cocaine) and possession of marijuana.